TUC President's speech - Lord MacKenzie

The President: Colleagues, this week marks the end of my year as yourPresident, and it has been a year that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

My personal journey from the Blackpool Winter Gardens to the Brighton Centre,on your behalf, has taken in such locations as Helsinki, Killarney, Cairo andeven Bridlington. The geographically minded will have noticed that all ofthem are beside the sea, a lake or a river and, as my colleagues in UNISON andon the General Council will know, I am only ever completely at ease when I canhear the sound of the ocean - so it is good to be here in Brighton.

I was brought up in a number of the Western Isles of Scotland where my fatherwas posted as a Principal Lighthouse Keeper. My dad was also Secretary of theScottish Lightkeepers Association (later to become part of the T G) and it wasfrom him that I absorbed trade union values as well as inheriting his loveofthe sea. I know he would be proud of me if he could see me today looking outover this sea, albeit this morning it happens to be a sea of faces.

I spent some time in the lighthouse service myself before going into nursing,so you can be assured that I am well enough trained in meteorology to spot anypotential storms that might be blowing up this week as I look out from mypresidential chair.

Personally, my appointment to the House of Lords, along with Bill Brett andDavid Lea, was a highlight, something that had never occurred to me at thestart of the year, nor indeed at any time in my career. As I said to theIrish Congress of Trade Unions soon after my appointment, the Lords is apeculiarly British contribution to democracy whose members are linked withconvicted criminals to be denied the right to vote in general elections. But,nevertheless, it is an honour to be only the second member of the Lords in theTUC's history to preside over Congress and I am sure my appointment reflectscredit on the trade union Movement as much as it does on me as an individual.

I have also reflected that it is somehow perhaps appropriate that a formerlighthouse keeper should end his career as a peer. ( Laughter ) Although Ihope at the start of this Congress week I am a little bit less dilapidatedthan the peer along to the west of the sea front here, but we will see how Ifeel by Thursday afternoon.

Congress, it is customary for Presidents in their opening address to reviewthe year, to reflect on our successes and areas where we have fallen short ofour ambitions, paying due regard to all areas of policy and to every specialinterest. Equality invariably features on the checklist - and rightly so -but to my mind equality is not just another issue. It must be central to allthat we do.

Last year the most emotional moment of Congress was when Neville Lawrencespoke from the heart. Earlier this year, with his words still fresh in ourminds, we witnessed a horrificoutbreak of violence against vulnerablecommunities in London. I was part of a General Council delegation that wentto visit Brixton and Brick Lane following the bomb attacks on those areas andwe demonstrated our solidarity with those communities, as we did with thevictims of the bomb in Soho. The TUC made absolutely clear where it stood.We believe in a society that is strengthened by its diversity, that is proudof the fact that we are all different but equal, and we say that the one thingwe will not tolerate is intolerance itself. I am sure that Congress wouldendorse those sentiments today. ( Applause )

I joined the General Council in 1987 and soon won the reputation as a fullypaid-up member of the 'awkward squad', as I pressed the case for thesetting-up of an Equalities Department at Congress House, which was contraryto the prevailing establishment view at that time. That case was won and Ifirmly believe that the TUC is better off as a result. But, despite thatvictory and all of the work on equality which has been undertaken in theintervening years, there is still a long, long way to go.

Equality cannot just be an add-on, it must be a central part of our work,because how can we appeal to that diverse mix of people that go to make uptoday's workforce - men and women, old and young, the variety of access needs,of every race, belonging to different communities and different sexualorientations - when we ourselves appear to represent such a limited section ofsociety?

Yes, we have made advances and, yes, we can set examples and we are doing so.The proportion of women in the trade union Movement and here at Congress isrising. We are undertaking race monitoring again this week to see whatprogress we are making, if any, in ensuring that we more accurately reflectthe racial composition of trade unions and the workforce.

This week we will be making special efforts to give more of a voice to youth,and I am pleased that amongst our guestspeakers will be Sir Herman Ouseley,the Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, and Baroness Jay, theMinister for Women.

But, delegates, let us also ourselves set an example this week in this, ourshowcase Conference. Let us see if we can do more to reflect that diversityin the speakers from this rostrum, and not just in the equality debate butthroughout the week.

Amongst other things, as the first man to undertake general nurse training atWest Cumberland Hospital, and as the first practising general nurse to leadCOHSE, the Confederation of Health Service Employees, I have had a fair bit ofexperience in breaking stereotypes and I will be looking to you to break somestereotypes this week. I will be looking to unions to put forward more womenspeakers, more members with disabilities, more black representatives, moreyounger delegates, and I hope that by the end of the week we will have gonesome way towards demonstrating that equality and diversity are reality and notjust aspiration. ( Applause )

In emphasising equality, we also make the case for a system of work thatrecognises that there is a life outside the factory gate, outside the officedoor and beyond the demands of the job. The fact that the new EmploymentRelations Act contains a section on family friendly policies sends out astrong signal in that direction.

We hear a lot about the flexible labour market, but flexibility is not justabout bending over backwards to do what the employer wants. Flexibility isabout knowing that, yes, sometimes work has to come before other commitments,but sometimes family and other commitments have to come before work. The bestemployers recognise that already. The sooner that others do so the better,and if that needs legal backing so be it. Let there be no complaints of redtape and over-regulation from those employers who would sooner tie theiremployees up in knots than allow them time away from the job to care for asick child or an ailing parent.

We know that the new law is not perfect. Some of you have expressed yourreservations in public and in no uncertain terms -and rightly so - but onthis, as on the rest of the Act, let us get the balance right. Let us expressour concerns and let us recognise what has been achieved. Let us say what wehave got falls short of our hopes and of our expectations, but let us alsoacknowledge that it is far more than we had before. Let us continue to workto improve the laws that we now have, but let us also put the law that we haveinto practice.

Above all else, let us use the new legislation to our best advantage and tothe best advantage of our members and our potential members. The new law isthe biggest advance for working people in our generation, but it will onlymean anything if we gear ourselves up to use its provisions. Gettinglegislation onto the statute book is just a start; getting it put intopractice in the workplace is what really makes the difference.

There are good signs. We should be proud of the fact that this year, for thefirst time in 19 years, there are more trade unionists represented at thisCongress than there were at the last. It is a small step forward, but it is astep in the right direction and it is one on which we have the chance tobuild. But trade union membership does not increase of its own accord. It willonly grow if we devote the energy and if we devote the resources to making itwork.

The Organising Academy is one of our great successes of the past year. Unionsare working together to build organising skills. They are putting the good oftrade unionism above their own union's interests and, let us face it,membership will not grow if potential members face a bewildering array ofinitials and neither, Congress, will membership grow if there is a spectacleof union officers and activists seeking to do each other down.

Later this morning we will debate the Millennial Challenge. We will look athow we can create a new trade unionism in a newand warmer climate. We willneed to be realistic about the opportunities - yes, and be realistic about thedangers too. Sometimes we need to take a courageous step into the unknown.

I was involved in one such step a few years ago when we created UNISON out ofthree separate, three different, three very distinctive unions each with avery proper pride in its own cultures, its own traditions and policies. Itwas not easy but it was right that it be done and it has brought greatbenefits. The gain is significantly greater than the pain.

I think the time is right for all of us, as a Movement, to take similarcourageous steps. I am not necessarily, Congress, talking about mergers.What I am talking about is a change of culture, a change of attitude, a changeof approach, so that we will be relevant - relevant to the modern workplaceand relevant to young people.

This is the last Congress of the 20th century. We have a chance to make itthe first of a new and more positive era. Of course, our capacity to grow andthe strength of trade unionism depends to some considerable extent on thestrength of the economy. It is easier for us to recruit and to help ourmembers fulfil their aspirations for improvements in working conditions andrising living standards when the economy is growing than when there is arecession. On the face of it, we now live in what the economists call theGoldilocks economy, where, like the porridge in the fairy story, growth is nottoo hot and it is not too cold.

Inflation is at its lowest level for years and unemployment is at levels thatwe have not known since the 1970s, but beneath that calm surface there is aswirl of currents. We know that in some areas unemployment, and especiallyyouth and long-term unemployment, remains a problem despite all the bestefforts of the New Deal. We know that manufacturing industry is strugglingagainst the burden of an overvalued pound. We know that job insecurity isendemic. We know that the long hours culture is hard to break, as well asbeing hard to reconcile with the family friendly noises that we hear from allquarters.

So the need for unions to bring some sanity, some sense of order andequality to this more fragmented, more uncertain world of work has never everbeen greater.

Our Congress theme this week is partners at work. Trade unionism has alwaysbeen about partnership, about working together for the common good. Ourcentral message must be that if we stick together we are better off than if weall go our own ways. But in this new and changing world of work, it is notenough for people in one workplace and in one trade to stick together. Weneed to build bigger, stronger partnerships -partnerships between unions,partnerships with Government, partnerships with pressure groups and, indeed,partnerships with employers too.

Let me make it clear, partnership with employers is not an easy option. It isnot saying that we are a soft touch, because that we must never be, but it isa recognition that we have different interests, interests which are notirreconcilable, and what we share in common is greater than what divides us.What we share in common is the success of the place where we work, be it inthe public services or in private enterprise. For the simple truth is that wecannot build a successful trade union Movement on the back of a failingbusiness. Where business fails then trade unionism will fail too; wherebusiness succeeds then we too have a chance to grow. This is true in servicesas much as it is true in manufacturing.

It is true as well, Congress, in the area in which I have been involved for agreat deal of my working life, the National Health Service, and as a HealthService person allow me to reflect just a little on some of the changes thathave been taking place in that area of national life in which we all have aninterest, usually at the start and at the end of our lives, and in varyingdegrees in the space in between.

There is much to be commended about the changes that have taken place in theHealth Service since May 1997: the NHS internal market has ended; thanks tothe hard work of NHS staff,waiting lists are coming down; more money is beinginvested; there is a new atmosphere and dialogue at national level;applications for nurse training are much better for the coming academic year;there is a commitment to that concept of partnership; there is much good inthe Health of the Nation White papers, in Primary Care Groups, in the NationalInstitute for Clinical Excellence and in Health Action Zones; and asuccessful booked appointments system will be a winner for patients and staff.There are other great innovations, like the NHS Direct and walk-in clinics,leading to a predictable, but disappointing, resistance from the BritishMedical Association to these nurse-led initiatives.

But there are still areas in the Health Service of potential difficulty. Payand working conditions still need much attention. Pay is generally too low,it is certainly not equitable and we cannot rebuild a quality Health Servicethat is flexible and adaptable if porters are paid a pittance and juniordoctors are too exhausted from long hours of duty to give patients the carethat they need.

As for the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the Government has made a numberof changes, all of which I welcome, but more needs to be done and I cannothelp but make it clear that I regard PFI as bad public policy - a short-termfix to get hospitals built which will add up to a long-term problem whichpoliticians of the future will have to pick up, and I don't want publicservice workers picking up the pieces in the meantime.

But overall it has been a good beginning for the Government with real,positive improvements as a start to repair the wreckage of 18 years ofneglect, and it is a similar picture elsewhere.

As a Scot I cannot but record my pride and joy at seeing the re-establishmentthis year of the Scottish Parliament which I and my family had advocated foras long as I can remember, even in the post-war days when devolution wascertainly not on anyone's agenda.

As a representative of UNISON, I cannot but record my satisfaction at seeingthe introduction of a national minimum wage, a policy which NUPE, one ofUNISON's constituent unions, had initiated and subsequently long campaigned.Of course, there are reservations and qualifications about the detail of thenational minimum wage, of course there is scope for improvement, but on this,as on all the other things I have spoken about, the establishment of anational minimum wage is a solid achievement that must be acknowledged.

Congress, I began on a personal note and I want to finish here as well. Oneof the high points of my year was my visit to the Irish Congress. As aHighlander whose forebears were subjected to the forcible clearances, potatofamines and emigrant ships of the last century and, not least, because oflanguage, culture and of course my favourite sport shinty (which is a closerelative of the Irish hurling, for the uninitiated) it is not surprising thatI have got a Celtic affinity with Ireland and with the Irish Congress. Thewarmth of their hospitality will stay with me for a very long time.

The commitment to the peace process in Northern Ireland was total. The rolewhich the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress and trade unions inthe North have played for more than thirty years was an island of sanity in asea of sectarianism and violence, and their part in taking that peace processforward seldom receives the recognition it deserves, though at last year'sCongress Mo Mowlam did so, and did so with her own unique sincerity.

The past year has been one in which the peace process has moved forward moreslowly, much more slowly than we had hoped at this time last year, but it isstill on the road and let us work to keep it moving forward. Let those onthis side of the water who dare to criticise the motives of the Prime Ministerand of Mo Mowlam look to the lessons of history, from which they must learnthat it is foolish in the extreme to play British political games about theNorth of Ireland, and to do so plays with the lives of the people of Ireland.A bipartisan political approach atWestminster is vital to a successful outcometo the peace process.

Perhaps one of the more testing moments of my year as President came during myvisit to Cairo for the Egyptian trade unions national centre centenary. Theusually thorough Congress House briefing neglected to include militaryintelligence which might have prepared me for the greeting on my landing inEgypt, which was to be told that my Government had started bombing Baghdad amere one hour before. At that predominantly Arab gathering a broadening of myHighland accent and an emphasis on the distance of the Western Isles fromLondon were quickly brought into play! ( Laughter ) Seriously though, thehospitality and the kindness of the Egyptians was magnificent.

Congress, apart from that tiny lapse, the support I have received from all ofthe staff at Congress House, and from my own staff at UNISON, has helped me noend in seeing me through a very memorable year.

It is, indeed, a great privilege to chair Congress. I thank you for yourattention. I hope I have not pre-empted too many speeches and, moreimportantly, I hope that not too many of you seek the right of reply to myremarks. But my very best wishes to you all and thank you very much indeed.